LAANC 30-day emergency notice

asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 195 / Wednesday, October 11, 2017 / Notices
a foreseeable need for additional
capacity at PHL, the airport sponsor, the
City of Philadelphia, has elected to
postpone several of the major
components of CEP, including
construction of the new southern
runway and the extension of Runway 8/
26. In support of this decision, the FAA
is suspending the ROD for the PHL CEP.
Projects currently underway will
continue to completion. As
circumstances change and new projects
are proposed, environmental analyses
for those projects will be conducted in
accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
DATES: Applicable upon publication in
the Federal Register.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Susan L. McDonald, Environmental
Protection Specialist, Federal Aviation
Administration, Harrisburg Airports
District Office, 3905 Hartzdale Drive,
Suite 508, Harrisburg, PA 17011.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 2003,
the City of Philadelphia, the airport
sponsor, who owns and operates PHL,
asked FAA to consider ways to
accommodate existing and forecasted
aviation demands. PHL was one of the
airports contributing to delays
throughout the national airspace system,
with delays approaching 20 minutes per
average annual operation. Operations
(aircraft takeoffs and landings) at PHL
were increasing and forecasted to reach
555,112 in 2016 and 699,799 in 2025.
Delays at PHL were attributed to airfield
configuration deficiencies and
operational constraints; particularly in
poor weather conditions. The purpose
of the CEP was to enhance airport
capacity in order to accommodate
current and future aviation demand in
the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area
during all weather conditions. The FAA
signed the ROD for the CEP on
December 30, 2010.
The CEP was designed to provide PHL
with five runways connected by a
redesigned and more efficient taxiway
system. Under CEP, Runway 17/35
would remain as a 6,500-foot-long
crosswind runway. Runway 8/26 would
be extended 2,000 feet to the east, for a
total length of 7,000 feet with an
Engineered Materials Arresting System
(EMAS) constructed at the east end of
the runway. Runway 9L/27R would
remain at its current length (9,500 feet)
and location. Runway 9R/27L would be
extended to the east by 1,500 feet, to a
total length of 12,000 feet, and would be
renamed Runway 9C/27C. A new 9,103foot-long runway, Runway 9R/27L,
would be constructed 1,600 feet south of
Runway 9C/27C (existing 9R/27L). All
existing navigational aids would be

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relocated as necessary, or new
navigational aids installed as required to
meet the approach criteria for the
particular runway end. The CEP
included upgrades and reconfigurations
to the existing terminal complex, and
the addition of a new commuter
terminal east of Runway 17/35. An
automated people mover (APM) was to
be constructed to transport passengers
between terminals and parking
facilities. The CEP would also have
required the relocation or expansion of
many of the other airport facilities,
including cargo, general aviation
(corporate), maintenance, fuel, training
facilities, and deicing facilities. The
FAA’s Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT)
was also to be relocated. In order to
accommodate the CEP, several offairport facilities and properties needed
to be acquired or, in some cases,
relocated.
The City of Philadelphia has actively
worked to implement the various
components of the CEP since 2010. To
date, the City has acquired several
parcels of land, constructed taxiway
improvements, and begun work on
extending Runway 9R/27L. During this
period, changes in both the aviation
industry and aviation activity have
resulted in reductions in the number of
operations at PHL. Although
enplanements at PHL have remained
steady, the number of aircraft takeoffs
and landings has decreased. In 2016,
annual operations at PHL were 394,022;
nearly 30 percent lower than forecasted.
This decrease in operations is attributed
to airlines using larger planes that can
seat more passengers, general aviation
activity shifting to other regional
airports, and consolidations within the
airline industry, such as the merger of
US Airways and American Airlines.
This unforeseen drop in operations has
resulted in the airport sponsor
realigning its capital improvement
program to address more immediate
needs at the airport, and indefinitely
deferring the construction of the
southern runway and the Runway 8/26
extension. For these reasons,
implementation of the ROD for the PHL
CEP is being suspended. Projects
currently underway at PHL will
continue to completion. As
circumstances change and new projects
are proposed, environmental analyses
for the projects will be conducted in
accordance with NEPA.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan McDonald, Environmental
Protection Specialist, Federal Aviation
Administration, Harrisburg Airports
District Office, 3905 Hartzdale Drive,

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Suite 508, Camp Hill, PA 17011,
Telephone (717) 730–2841.
Issued in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania,
October 3, 2017.
Lori Pagnanelli,
Manager, Harrisburg Airports District Office.
[FR Doc. 2017–21880 Filed 10–10–17; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
[Docket No.: FAA–2017–0975]
RIN 2120–0768

Request for Emergency Processing of
Collection of Information by the Office
of Management and Budget;
Emergency Clearance To Revise
Information Collection 2120–0768, Part
107 Authorizations and Waivers
Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of Agency request for
OMB emergency information collection
processing and request for comments.
AGENCY:

FAA hereby gives notice it is
submitting the following Information
Collection request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Emergency processing under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA)
and its implementing regulations. FAA
requests that OMB authorize the
proposed collection of information
identified below on, or before October
16, 2017, for a period of 180 days.
ADDRESSES: A copy of this individual
information collection request (ICR),
with applicable supporting
documentation, may be obtained by
calling FAA’s unmanned aircraft
systems (UAS) Low Altitude
Authorization and Notification
Capability (LAANC) Program Manager:
Casey Nair (tel. (202) 267–0369) or via
email at Casey.Nair@faa.gov. Comments
regarding these information collection
requirements should include the title
and OMB control number listed below
and should be sent directly to the Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Office of Management and Budget, 725
Seventeenth Street NW., Washington,
DC 20503, Attention: FAA Desk Officer.
Comments may also be sent via email to
OMB at oira_submissions@omb.eop.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Casey Nair, FAA’s unmanned aircraft
systems (UAS) Low Altitude
Authorization and Notification
Capability (LAANC) Program Manager,
tel. (202) 267–0369 or via email at
Casey.Nair@faa.gov.
SUMMARY:

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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 195 / Wednesday, October 11, 2017 / Notices

asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with NOTICES

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: The FAA Seeks Emergency
Clearance to Revise its Existing
Information Collection 2120–0768, Part
107 Authorizations and Waivers under
14 CFR part 107.
OMB Control Number: 2120–0768.
Form Number(s): N/A.
Affected Public: Businesses and Small
UAS operators under 14 CFR part 107.
Frequency of Submission: One
submission per operation.
Respondent Universe: small UAS
operators under 14 CFR part 107.
Reporting Burden:
Total Estimated Responses: 124,000
authorization requests 2017 with a 35%
increase per year every year after.
Total Estimated Annual Burden: The
FAA estimates that using the LAANC
based method for authorizations will
require five minutes per transaction.
Therefore, the FAA estimates the total
time burden using LAANC to be
approximately 10,400 hours for
authorizations. That number increases
to 14,400 in 2018 and 18,954 in 2018
and 2019 respectively.
Status: Emergency Review.
Description: Under 14 CFR 107.41,
‘‘no person may operate a small
unmanned aircraft in Class B, Class C,
or Class D airspace or within the lateral
boundaries of the surface area of Class
E airspace designated for an airport
unless that person has prior
authorization from Air Traffic Control
(ATC).’’ [14 CFR 107.41.] Since the
promulgation of part 107, the FAA has
received an extremely high volume of
airspace authorization requests for UAS
operations. From September 2016 to
July 2017 the Agency received 20,566
authorization requests. Of these, the
Agency has processed 14,334 and
continues to have over 6,000
authorizations in the processing queue.
Requests have steadily increased over
time, and the FAA expects the queue
will exceed 25,000 pending
authorizations within the next 6
months. The volume of these
authorization requests has dramatically
increased the time between submission
and approval of those authorization
requests. Currently, airspace
authorization requests may be in queue
sixty to ninety days before receiving a
response. The time necessary to process
these requests has resulted in an
increase in safety reports due to noncompliant operations. Today there are
an average of 250 safety reports a
month, or approximately 1,500 over a
six-month period, associated with a
potential risk of an incident between
manned aircraft and a UAS. In addition,
because of the lengthy queue for
processing through the authorization

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Web site, Air Traffic Controllers
routinely receive calls from UAS
operators seeking approval to operate.
These calls create distractions for Air
Traffic Control management and in
some cases can impact the controllers
managing manned traffic creating a
potential safety hazard. To mitigate
these potential hazards, the FAA is
seeking to implement the Low Altitude
Authorization and Notification
Capability (LAANC) system. Using the
LAANC system, the FAA will be able to
grant near-real time authorizations for
the vast majority of operations.
Implementation of the LAANC system is
vital to the safety of the National
Airspace System because it would (1)
encourage compliance with 14 CFR
107.41 by speeding up the time to
process authorization requests (2)
reduce distraction of controllers
working in the Tower, and (3) increase
public access and capacity of the system
to grant authorizations. LAANC is
expected to dramatically reduce the
incidence of noncompliant operations.
The FAA estimates a minimum of 30%
reduction in noncompliant operations
would result in 450 fewer safety reports
over the next six months.
As provided under 5 CFR 1320.13,
Emergency Processing, DOT is
requesting emergency processing for
this new collection of information as
specified in the PRA and its
implementing regulations. DOT cannot
reasonably comply with normal
clearance procedures because the use of
normal clearance procedures is
reasonably likely to result in further
distraction to Air Traffic Controllers and
further non-compliant operations. Due
to the pressing safety consideration of
reducing safety reports due to noncompliant UAS operations, the FAA
cannot wait the normal 90 days of
public comment. Therefore, FAA is
requesting OMB approval of this
collection of information 7 days after
publication of this Notice in the Federal
Register. Upon OMB approval of its
Emergency clearance request, FAA will
follow the normal clearance procedures
for the information collection associated
with LAANC.
Also included in the request for
processing for the purposes of
transparency are non-substantive
changes to the Web site portal for
requesting airspace authorizations.
These changes include new branding of
the Web site portal DroneZone and
improvements to the external customer
experience. It’s expected that operations
that are relatively simple will go
through LAANC’s automated approval
process while more complex operations
that require a more thorough review by

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FAA subject matter experts (SME) will
go through the FAA’s DroneZone
electronic portal. Again, these changes
will create greater access to airspace
authorizations and decrease the number
of non-compliant operations.
Under 44 U.S.C. 3507(a) and 5 CFR
1320.5(b), 1320.8(b)(3)(vi), FAA informs
all interested parties that it may not
conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is
not required to respond to, a collection
of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501–3520.
Issued in Washington, DC, on October 4,
2017.
Casey Nair,
LAANC Program Manager.
[FR Doc. 2017–21878 Filed 10–10–17; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
Notice of Rescission of the Record of
Decision (ROD) for the I–94 East-West
Corridor Project in the City of
Milwaukee, Milwaukee County,
Wisconsin
Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA), Department of
Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of rescission of the
Record of Decision.
AGENCY:

The FHWA is issuing this
notice to advise the public that the ROD
for the proposed I–94 East-West
Corridor (70th Street to 16th Street)
Project in the City of Milwaukee,
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin is
rescinded effective with this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Bethaney Bacher-Gresock, Major Project
Environmental Manager, Federal
Highway Administration, 525 Junction
Road, Suite 8000, Madison, Wisconsin,
53717–2157, Telephone: (608) 662–
2119.
SUMMARY:

The
FHWA, as the lead Federal agency, in
cooperation with the Wisconsin
Department of Transportation (WisDOT)
signed a ROD on September 9, 2016 for
the I–94 East-West Corridor (70th Street
to 16th Street) Project; it is hereby
rescinded. The purpose of the project
was to address the deteriorated
infrastructure condition of I–94,
including obsolete roadway and bridge
design, and thereby maintain a state of
good repair and improve safety along
approximately 3.5 miles of I–94. The
proposed project included modernizing

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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